Helge Holds a Full Nelson on Germany

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Have you ever played a game of Magic? Then you know that sometimes, you need to destroy an artifact or an enchantment, right? Well, tournament players all over the world seemed to have forgotten just that very lesson. Going into German Nationals, Standard appeared pretty much solved. Caw-Blade was the overdog, U/B Control the hip anti-tech and Valakut was the other deck.

Nelson's story was remarkable. The 25-year-old PhD student originally was not qualified for Nationals and chose to try his luck and skill in the last-chance qualifiers on Thursday. When he entered his second M12 draft tournament, skill and luck came together perfectly to carry him to a clean sweep 5-0 victory and the right to enter Nationals the next morning.

Nationals is a multi-format event and you cannot be the champion without also mastering the draft. M12 proved to be an exciting, complex format that incited long discussions among the players how to make the best of it. Between the popular low-curve aggressive strategies, green-based aggro decks and blue-based control strategies, every player could find a niche.

When it came to the top 8 matches, Caw-Blade was nowhere to be seen, beaten by U/B Control which in turn had difficulty dealing with Lightning Bolt, Goblin Guide and especially Shrine of Burning Rage. The tables ran with fire as more than half of the Top 8 had red as their primary color. The German National Team – Helge Nelson, Tobias Dreger, Martin Zimmermann and Bernd Brendemühl – will certainly be looking at the red decks again come November and with it Worlds in San Francisco.

The German National Team (left to right): Martin Zimmermann, Tobias Dreger, Helge Nelson, and Bernd Brendemühl

What's more important to you: being qualified for Worlds or being national champion? Worlds

Name: Helge Nelson

Age: 25

Hometown: Münster

Occupation: Ph.D. student (physics)

Previous Magic accomplishments: GP Top 8 (Hasselt 2006)

What decks did you draft and what was your score with each? 3-0 with R/U, 2-1 with U/B splashing green

If you played a tournament in the new Modern format tomorrow, what deck would you choose? My draft deck from the last-chance qualifier, that was really good.

What's more important to you: being qualified for Worlds or being national champion? Worlds

Quarterfinal: Martin Zimmermann vs. Jan Hammerich

by Tobi Henke

Martin Zimmermann entered the fray with blue-black control, Jan Hammerich brought his mono-red aggro deck. These were the two most succesful archetypes of the tournament, and here they faced off.

Game One

Zimmermann won the die-roll, but started with two mulligans before playing a tapped land. Hammerich had Goblin Guide. "Now it's only one mulligan," Zimmermann commented, as he revealed Darkslick Shores on the top of his library.

Zimmermann had Black Sun's Zenith to clear the board, but the clock of doom that is Shrine of Burning Rage was still ticking. Unfortunately for Hammerich, he only had two lands and watched helplessly as his Shrine was returned to his hand via Into the Roil. When he replayed it, it resolved uncontested, but now Zimmermann's deck was operating on full power. He cast Liliana Vess and, unbeknownst to his opponent, tutored up Karn Liberated. When Hammerich tapped low for Ember Hauler, Karn exiled the Shrine.

When Grave Titan and team attacked for half of Hammerich's life total, Zimmermann himself was at 11, with Shrine of Burning Rage on eight counters. At end of turn, Hammerich cast Lightning Bolt; Zimmermann stopped it per Flashfreeze. The crowd held their breath. With three lands on the battlefield, an untapped land plus any one-mana spell would win the game for Hammerich. He topdecked ... Teetering Peaks.

A couple of minutes later, Dreger had two Pyromancer Ascension with two counters and as I walked over, he pointed Lightning Bolt and Red Sun's Zenith at Brendemühl, who shrugged and picked up his cards.

Helge Nelson (Mono-Red) vs. Michael Diezel (Mono-Red)

Meanwhile, Nelson and Diezel had already finished game one in their match. Both players had slung burn and creatures at each other, but Diezel had a not-so-subtle surprise for Nelson: Two Goblin Grenades. Boom.

On the table to their right, Görzgen threw the first game away on a technicality. With exactly seven mana available including Overgrown Battlements, he moved to cast Primeval Titan and realized that he had not intended to use the Overgrown Battlement. Since he had announced the spell already, he had to play it that way. With the Titan on the stack, Görzgen was tapped out and thus without any chance of Nature's Claim to gain critical life. Brendemühl could incinerate Görzgen for the last three points of damage. Görzgen did not have Nature's Claim in hand, but that didn't matter in the least, because his misplay removed any uncertainty on Brendemühl's part that he could win game one right there.

Helge Nelson (Mono-Red) vs. Michael Diezel (Mono-Red)

Helge Nelson

While Brendemühl and Görzgen shored up game one, the two accomplished burn mages Nelson and Diezel had already finished game two, this one going to Nelson as Diezel had missed a land to enable landfall on Searing Blaze, playing the entire game on two lands. Nelson fared better to pull away with damage and the win.

Müller played Jace Beleren. Dreger baited Mana Leak with Pyromancer Ascension and followed it up immediately with a second one that Müller couldn't stop, as laughter from the mono-red match drew my attention away: Helge Nelson had just pulled ahead a game in this best-of-five match.

The match between Müller and Dreger not only was entertaining to watch for the player's easygoing banter, but also for the game itself. Where Müller had added Liliana Vess to his board, Dreger again had Pyromancer Ascension going with two counters. A replacement Jace Beleren, Karn Liberated and Wurmcoil Enginge were still waiting in Müller's hand. But Dreger Pondered without end. Red Sun's Zenith was in sight on top of his library, Lightning Bolt was in his hand and he held two Mana Leaks to protect all that.

Müller used Liliana to find what he needed. But Dreger's deck was running smoothly, and he shaped his hand to deal with whatever Müller could throw at him, like Volition Reins. Müller was still on 20 life so Dreger would need the full force of Pyromancer Ascension to deal enough damage.

Helge Nelson (Mono-Red) vs. Michael Diezel (Mono-Red)

Michael Diezel

Enough damage was not a problem for Helge Nelson, though, who had secured a third win in his match and was the first player to advance to the semifinals of the German Nationals 2011! In the fourth game of the mono-red mirror, he had managed to equip Sword of War and Peace, "which should never happen", according to Diezel. Goblin Guide had come from the top of his library to pick up the beatstick, and Diezel never recovered from that.

Back to the more interesting match, Dreger had almost come in danger of drawing his entire library. He started the shooting with Burst Lightning and Lightning Bolt to get Müller to 13 life and kill Liliana Vess, as Müller was unable to cast either one of his two Flashfreezes to stop any of that. Dreger was on a mere 8 life, though, and Müller contemplated if his two Creeping Tar Pits could kill Dreger safely without dying from a burn spell.

While all of this was happening, Brendemühl and Görzgen were plodding away in their quarterfinal, which turned out to be a one-sided affair. In game two of the match, Brendemühl had kicked off with Goblin Guide and Teetering Peaks, dealing a hefty amount of damage before Görzgen could establish his wall defense. But Görzgen found nothing else to stop the attacks – Primeval Titan especially eluded him. When Görzgen was on 8 life, Brendemühl drew Ember Hauler, Lightning Bolt and Incinerate, in that order, and fried Görzgen thorougly.

Game three was essentially a blowout after both players mulliganed. Görzgen played a turn five Avenger of Zendikar, but couldn't grow his plants for lack of mana. Brendemühl seized the opportunity to kill the Avenger and found Kargan Dragonlord. It took just one turn to get the Dragonlord to eight counters, and Brendemühl rode that to victory and into the semifinals!

Back in game two of the combo-control duel, Dreger had not managed to get an Ascension back up yet. At 3 life, he was in severe danger of dying to Creeping Tar Pit next turn, but with an end-of-turn Burst Lightning, Dreger took Brendemühl from 7 to 5, giving his Pyromancer Ascension a second counter. Dreger untapped, attacked with his Consecrated Sphinx (Müller to 1 life) and took a close game two with a final burn spell.

Game three was once more a prolonged affair. The cheerfulness had largely dried out from these players, as they were playing mentally exhausting Magic, each waiting for a Mental Misstep from the other. Müller picked up a warning as he failed to discard down to 7 cards at the end of one of his turns. Roughly fifteen minutes into the game the board position consisted of lands only and Dreger had just two cards left in his library. Müller had sucessfully prevented any and all Pyromancer Ascension shenanigans, and this time, Dreger had not found a chink in the blue-black armor.

Tobias Dreger (left) and Michael Müller (right)

At two games to Dreger and one to Müller, the players shuffled up for the fourth game. This time, Dreger fared much better, setting up with Pyromancer Ascension with two counters AND a Consecrated Sphinx about ten turns into the game. Müller had Liliana Vess to help him out, though the planeswalker did little to afffect the board.

Müller then tried Surgical Extraction, on Mana Leak. Dreger responded with Burst Lightning with Kicker, copied twice – enough to kill Müller on the spot. "No, you cannot see my hand!" said Dreger and took the fourth game and the match.

Final Results

Bernd Brendemühl 3 – 0 Fabian Görzgen

Helge Nelson 3 – 1 Michael Diezel

Michael Müller 1 – 3 Tobias Dreger

Third-place playoff - Bernd Brendemühl vs. Martin Zimmermann

by Hanno Terbuyken

Both Brendemühl and Zimmermann came to the table quite relaxed. They knew that they wouldn't have to face the pressure of a championship match. Both had qualified for Worlds, and nobody would take that away from them now.

Game One

Brendemühl started with the classic opening move of Mountain, Goblin Guide, attacked and gave Zimmermann two extra lands in the first two turns of the game. That was good enough for Zimmermann, who was happy to then kill the Goblin with Go for the Throat. Brendemühl offered Plated Geopede buffed by Teetering Peaks, for which Zimmermann had Doomblade.

Game Two

An early Inquisition of Kozilek answered Zimmermann's question about the sideboard plan immediately: In Brendemühl's initial seven, he found and discarded Kargan Dragonlord. Still, Brendemühl had enough gas to put pressure on Zimmermann. Goblin Guide did a lot of the work, dealing 10 damage on its own, taking Zimmermann to 7 life with the help of Incinerate.

Brendemühl played Shrine of Searing Flesh and Plated Geopede. With just two lands in play, drawing a third only on his eighth turn, Brendemühl's deck couldn't operate on full power. Still, his cards were cheap and he pointed more burn at Zimmermann as soon as he got it. Lightning Bolt and Burst Lightning brought Zimmermann to 2 life. All Brendemühl needed to finish his opponent was some burn spell.

But Zimmmermann had brought Grave Titan to the battlefield once more, and Brendemühl's time to win was running out. Goblin Guide wasn't doing much against the Titan, and when Brendemühl's last chance turned out to be Koth of the Hammer, Zimmermann had turned the game around at the last moment.

"This was close", commented Zimmermann, "any closer would have been death!"

Again, Brendemühl was scarce on lands, not drawing a fourth for three turns. Kargan Dragonlord filled the gap in the meanwhile. Despite being able to cast his Dismembers, Zimmermann was also hit by mana troubles, as he failed to find a source for blue mana. Brendemühl declined to give him a chance for land through Goblin Guide, and when blue mana was not forthcoming, Zimmermann succumbed to the onslaught.

Game Five

So it came down to a fifth game! Both players tackled it in relaxed fashion. Both would be going to Worlds, and that was the main goal. A place on the National team was just the icing on the cake. But still: Who would it be?

He didn't have much joy of it, though. Brendemühl burned the Titan away with Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning and a sacrificed Ember Hauler. That emptied Brendemühl's hand completely, and Ziommermann's two zombie tokens were the only non-land permanents left. Facing a control deck in full stride with nothing left to play with but the top of his library, Brendemühl had no outs.

As in his quarterfinal match, Dreger burned through cards like only the Ascension deck can. That gave him Mana Leak to counter Zimmermann's Jace Beleren – an important spell, as that one gave Dreger the second counter on his Pyromancer Ascension. Dreger then played a second Ascension and Pondered and Foresaw and Saw Beyond to quickly put a second counter on that one, too. A bunch of draw and search spells later, Zimmermann conceded game one.

The two players essentially replayed their first couple of turns without much difference – once again, Zimmermann took a Ponder from Dreger's hand. But Dreger simply saw more cards from his deck overall, and one of them was Pyromancer Ascension that immediately received two counters through the usual small spells.

Zimmermann's main problem was that his deck had no way to deal with Pyromancer Ascension on the battlefield other than one Karn Liberated and one Into the Roil. Though Zimmermann played Liliana Vess to help him find a solution, his biggest hope were his counterspells. But even those would never be enough to stop all copies.

'...When he put a third Pyromancer Ascension on the battlefield and pumped it up to two counters, Zimmermann slumped...'

However, Dreger was already down to 8 life, mostly damaging himself through fetchlands. Zimmermann attacked with Creeping Tar Pit. But against three loaded Ascensions, that plan seemed much too slow – and it was, as it turned out, especially since Dreger still had Burst Lightning to just kill it.

Zimmermann was unfazed. Small wonder, as he tapped all his lands to put Grave Titan on the battlefield! Dreger was holding Consecrated Sphinx which he played, knowing full well that Zimmermann was still holding Go for the Throat, but the feeble resistance was futile and Martin took the game.

A second Pyromancer Ascension immediately gained two counters as well. Zimmermann slouched in his chair after he had pressed F6 to cede priority to Dreger for the turn. There was nothing he could do, and after Dreger countered Liliana Vess, Martin extended the hand and Tobias Dreger advanced to the finals!

Tobias Dreger 3 – 1 Martin Zimmermann

Semifinal - Bernd Brendemühl vs. Helge Nelson

by Tobi Henke

"Burning" Bernd Brendemühl is known throughout Germany as one of the very best mono red mages. Sitting across from him this round, however, was Helge Nelson who had already dispatched Michael Diezel in another mono red mirror match in the quarterfinals.

Over the next couple of turns, the players traded numerous burn spells for just as many creatures. The board was empty except for lands on both sides and the two Shrines on Nelson's side. He controlled one Shrine with seven counters and one with eight as well as six lands. Brendemühl was on 17, Nelson himself on 10. Nelson drew the only card that would allow him to win this turn: Koth of the Hammer. If he played Koth, the Shrines would both get another counter. Then he could use Koth's second ability to generate six mana, and deal lethal damage with the Shrines. But Nelson didn't see it!

He used Koth's first ability instead and attacked for 4. Brendemühl pointed out the mistake and also that he himself did indeed have 7 points of burn damage (kicked Burst Lightning, which he played at end of turn, and Lightning Bolt) in his hand. If he drew another Lightning Bolt or Incinerate now, Nelson's mistake really would cost him the game. The crowd watched expectantly as Brendemühl slowly drew his card: It was Koth of the Hammer, now completely useless because of Nelson's own Koth.

Bernd Brendemühl 0 – 2 Helge Nelson

Game Three

After mulligans, Brendemühl was a little short on mana, which delayed his Vulshok Refugee. Meanwhile his opponent's Chandra's Phoenix was busy attacking since turn three.

Still, the Refugee wasn't exactly bad at playing catch up. After all, it did have more power, and Chandra's Phoenix died a couple of times. Just in time, though, Nelson found Shrine of Burning Rage to get rid of the Refugee.

Nevertheless, Vulshok Refugee and Chandra's Phoenix had managed to put their respective victims in the single-digit life total range. The game was going to be decided on direct damage. In the end, it came down to a situation when Nelson's Staggershock rebound put Brendemühl at exactly 1 life, so he couldn't use Arid Mesa to get landfall for his Searing Blaze.

Bernd Brendemühl 0 – 3 Helge Nelson

Final: Tobias Dreger vs. Helge Nelson

by Tobi Henke

This is it. The culmination of one weekend of thrilling Magic. Three more wins and one of these players would be crowned champion of German Nationals 2011. The match-up was Pyromancer Ascension played by Tobias Dreger and, on the other side, a deck and a player not many had expected at the beginning of the weekend to end up here. Helge Nelson won a last-chance qualifier on Thursday and made it all the way to the finals with his mono-red deck.

Game One

Dreger won the die-roll and kept his seven, Nelson took two mulligans. Both players had tapped lands on their first turn, Halimar Depths for Dreger, Teetering Peaks for Nelson.

Goblin Guide was hit by Lightning Bolt. Now, since Nelson was tapped out and couldn't use his Shrine, Dreger seized the opportunity and bounced the artifact. He passed the turn with Mana Leak mana up. Nelson didn't have much choice and re-cast his Shrine and Dreger did indeed have the Mana Leak, which also put a second counter on Pyromancer Ascension

Now on 9 life with a fully-powered Ascension, Dreger looked firmly in control. The game continued for a couple of turns in a flurry of copied Preordains, Ponders, Gitaxian Probes, with the occasional See Beyond for good measure. Nelson fought back valiantly with Chandra's Phoenix, a second Staggershock, and Lightning Bolt. And in fact, he did manage to get Dreger down to 4. But when a second Pyromancer Ascension made its way to the table and was charged in record time, a couple of Lightnings soon finished the game

Tobias Dreger 1 – 0 Helge Nelson

The match-up was about to change considerably, because both players boarded some extremely effective cards, though it was hard to say who gained most from his sideboard.

Dreger had Burst Lightning for the Lavamancer, putting a second counter on his Ascension. But on his turn, when this reporter was expecting a number of spells and copies, Dreger just laid a land and passed. A quick peek at his hand confirmed: he only held red cards, and a Batterskull which was still one turn away from being cast.

Game Five

Nelson was happy to play first in the final game, but not too happy with his opening seven, happy enough, though, to keep. Dreger had the first play with Preordain, Nelson had the very important Shrine of Burning Rage. Dreger cast a second Preordain and triggered his Ascension.

This card destroyed the hopes of a number of U/B Control players. With typically just one Into the Roil and one Karn Liberated, people found themselves unable to deal with a threat which came down on turn two and won many a game virtually by itself. Also, the Caw-Blade players, nowadays often eschewing Oblivion Ring, had their fair share of difficulties.

A typical value card, Auramancer returned everything from Divine Favor to Pacifism, from Ice Cage to Brink of Disaster in the M12 drafts this weekend. One of the hallmarks of a good player was to know when to hold it back to return an enchantment later on, and when to play it early as a simple bear.

Goblin Guide was the cornerstone of the red deck. The immediate impact it had every time it hit the battlefield on turn one was central to the red decks' success. On the other hand, whenever the early aggression petered out, a couple of extra lands boosted the opponents' chances to turn the game around. Goblin Guide is a two-edged sword.

Into the Roil may look innocuous enough, but its versatility knew to impress. A number of Caw-Blade players swore by the universal solution. For other decks it was the only line of defense against noncreature permanents. Timing it correctly was not always obvious, especially in the ubiquitous staring contest against a constantly growing Shrine of Burning Rage. It was not easy to use, but essential to have.

Squadron Hawk is a card of the weekend not because of its impact, but specifically because of the lack of impact. 44 out of 195 players had pinned their hopes on the Hawk, and all of them were disappointed. No Caw-Blade made it to the Top 8. Compared to the results of previous Nationals, this was surprising to say the least. This weekend has severely ruffled its feathers.